They Didn't Know
by Lady Maria
Summary: She is a Slayer with a hidden past. Not even her siblings know everything about her, when she goes back to her old life in the WWE, she is no longer the girl she was. Can her families join forces to help her fall back in love? AU COMPLETE
1. A Look into the Past

**NOT MINE! Full disclaimer coming in the next chapter.**

Prologue 

She'd been a wrestler her entire life; any type of fighting or wrestling move could have been delivered in her sleep.  When she'd been Called, her life had been going through an upheaval.  She was fifteen and living with an abusive biological father and a biological mother who'd only fought for custody of her because the man she'd lived with for nearly twelve years was gay.  She'd always hated her biological parents, but when she was forced to leave her family, she nearly killed the woman who had given her life.

Her mother had abandoned her when she was three years old.  Oh, she hadn't been left with social services or anything but she had been left with her uncle.  He'd been there for her always.  He'd always loved her like a daughter, even when he finally had a child of his own.  He'd even adopted her and given her his last name.

She remembered Rebecca, who was the woman who'd been the surrogate mother.  Becca had been nice, but she hadn't been sorry when Becca died during childbirth. She remembered how her little brother had trusted anyone who came near him.  

She chuckled at that.  It was because he was so trusting that she'd taught him curse words.  Hell, his first word may have been Dada, but his second was fuck. He'd had his lesson about the birds and the bees before their father had even taught her about them.  He was three and she was thirteen.  Stephanie had gotten them both fake ids and Shane had taken them to the bar. 

All three of them had scored that night, she remembered.  But she'd been the only one who'd lost their virginity.  Steph had lost hers to some random girl the year before and Shane had lost his at fourteen, two years before Steph. 

When they'd gotten back to the arena, her dad had been in a match, so she plucked Cameron out of the Undertaker's arms and taken him over to Shane and Steph's locker room.  There they'd given the three year old The Talk.

She had to laugh when she thought of the fact that her dad had never found out.  He would have yelled so badly.  

The last time she'd seen him was at the court battle.  She'd broken down sobbing when the judge handed down his ruling.  She was to have absolutely no contact with her father or any of the WWF's wrestlers until she turned eighteen.  That had left a full three years because the custody battle had taken place in January, just six days after her birthday.

She heard the tell-tale sound of footsteps.  It was three in the morning and there was only her around.  Her hand automatically went to a stake. It was Mr. Pointy, Kendra's favorite.  

Five minutes later, she and her sister Slayer were done dispatching all twenty-five vampires.

"Hey, would you mind if I left the Hellmouth?"

The other Slayer's mouth dropped.  She knew that her sister had demons in her past.  She knew that that was the reasons why she didn't take even a tiny vacation.  "You mean permanently?"

The other young woman nodded.  "I might come back if you need me, but I've got to do this.  The WWE is hiring new divas.  And damn it, I want to be one they hire."

"As long as you keep slaying vamps," Faith grinned, "go for it, B."


	2. Becoming the girl she once was

**None of it is mine.  They belong to Joss, Vince, and themselves respectively.**

**A/N:  nWo is simply a part of the Smackdown roster, Stephanie isn't such a bitch, the roster split never happened, and Vince no longer has any say in the company.**

**Also, Beth is Buffy as is Elizabeth Rosenberg.**

Chapter 1

"So this chick's new?" Kevin Nash asked his boss.  "You planning on bringing her onto Smackdown or RAW?"

"Smackdown," Stephanie McMahon, who was the GM of both shows in question, answered.  "My mother saw her try out and immediately wanted to sign her on.  I saw her as well, and I agree."

"So she's going to be freelance?"

"No. I want you to bring her into the nWo.  You guys need a woman in the Kliq."  Stephanie knew that her idea wouldn't be easily accepted, but they really did need women.

Kevin looked at Stephanie in shock.  "You do not seriously want me to allow a woman into the Kliq.  Besides that, she's even younger than Sean.  She's only twenty-one and just graduated with a degree in business.  How good could this Elizabeth Rosenberg possibly be?"

Stephanie sighed.  She knew the truth, knew that Elizabeth Rosenberg was only a stage name.  But she couldn't exactly tell Kevin that Buffy, or Beth as she'd been called, was a wrestler's daughter and had been practicing since she was four years old.  Beth didn't want her family to know she was there.  

Steph knew that they missed her terribly; most wrestlers who remembered the little spitfire missed her.  There were a few who had applauded when she had been forced to leave, but that was just because she'd beat the shit out of them for talking trash about her family. But Beth was still strangely reticent.  Just from the look in Beth's eyes sometimes, Steph wanted to kill the person who'd hurt her.  It wouldn't have surprised her if it were the people who'd forced her to answer to Buffy who'd abused her. Honestly, it had been better when Buffy was Beth and not pretending to be a girl named Elizabeth Rosenberg.  She was already planning on Beth being introduced as exactly that.  That way, if the fans ever found out, it wouldn't become too confusing.

"Look, Kev, she's damn good. She's good enough that I would sign her as a contender for the World Championship Hardcore belt if it were still around.  And she'd probably win it, too."

"Alright, but no more females!"

Steph rolled her eyes.  She couldn't help it.  Kevin Nash, the wrestler known as Big Sexy, was flippin' afraid of a 21 year old female.  And Kevin was GAY for crying aloud!  He was gay and in a loving relationship with two other men.  One wouldn't think that he would be afraid of a girl he'd never met.

"You are such a chicken," she laughed.  "She won't bite and she's house trained.  That's more than you can say about the rest of the Kliq."

"That's not true," he protested.  Feebly, but still protested.  It was true, but that didn't mean that Steph was allowed to say it.

"Yes, it is and you know it."  She knew that her statement didn't apply to all of the members, but there were some that it did.  Sean Waltman, who was known as the Kid, was one of them.  Justin Credible, P.J., was another.

"Yeah," someone new said with a laugh, "I may not have actively watched wrestling in about six years, but I am a good wrestler that happens to be housetrained.  I can prove it if you'll let me." Buffy had dyed her hair back to her natural black, adding a couple of blue streaks into it.  She couldn't help it; even after he'd broken his back by landing wrong while performing a Swanton, she'd still been a fan of Jeff Hardy.  That was a fact about her that no one in the world knew.  

Honestly, she'd grown up in the wrestling world, so why had she actually become a fan of a guy who was only about eight years older than her? It was still a mystery to her and she knew she'd never live it down if she told either of her childhood best friends.

"Alright," Kevin said decisively, "but you have to show off your skills in front of the entire Kliq."

"I can handle that," she nodded.  "Do you want me to fight one of the guys?"

"Fight Hunter," Steph suggested.  While her friend always fought aggressively and extremely well, her skills sharpened considerably when she took things personally.  Because Buffy knew full well that there was no way in hell that Steph would have married Hunter if she hadn't been drugged, she wouldn't go lightly on him.  She would beat him to a pulp and she wouldn't give a damn.  Steph had grown up as her best friend, her sister, the one she got into crazy situations with.  And she knew deep inside of her that the girl she'd once called Beth would have come back in an instant if she hadn't only been seventeen.

Truth was, was that Buffy would have come back.  She had wanted to so damn bad, but that was the year she'd been tossed out of her house and Angelus had run rampant.  That summer, she'd nearly run away but she knew that if she did go back, her mother would have someone spying for her.  They'd make certain that she was shipped back to the house she'd left halfway through junior year.  Okay, technically, she'd been thrown out. What was the real difference?

Kevin considered that suggestion for a few moments.  "Would you be able to hold your own against him?"

Buffy nodded.  "Yes, I would."

"Let's go back to the locker room then, and tell them."  He wasn't looking forward to telling the Kliq.  It wasn't that they were against women; it was just that they didn't actively trust them.  But Steph had faith in this girl and his gut reaction was that she loved wrestling with every bone in her body.  Besides, she was beautiful.  Even though he wasn't attracted to women in the slightest, he could tell that.  Her eyes told the story of heartbreak, but her soul shone through them as well. 

Although it was obvious she'd seen the harsher side of life, her soul was pure and beautiful.  And she didn't seem like most of the divas, who were only in wrestling for the money.  She was a rare find; he understood that concept deep within himself.  

She was even dressed for the ring, he realized with a start.  She was dressed in form fitting spandex crimson pants, which hugged every curve of her body.  And her top was more decent than most of the divas' tops, but the blood red corset top still made her look like a streetwalker.  A classy streetwalker, but a streetwalker nonetheless. 

"How come you wear ring wear that makes you look like a streetwalker?" he inquired.  When he realized how that sounded, he immediately apologized. "I'm sorry.  I didn't mean to offend you.  I really hope you understand that. I don't always think before I say things.  Please believe me."

She simply laughed.  It was shocking how quickly she was shedding Buffy Summers.  She was slipping back into the skin of the girl she'd been a long time before with an ease that amazed her.  Buffy would have been outraged because it was expected.  She would have yelled and screamed.  But Beth had never been that way.  If anything she would have said something that stung in the same way, but only if it was one of the people she was enemies or really good friends with.  

"Relax.  It's not really streetwalker wear.  It just happens not to be as modest as what most women would wear.  And it's definitely better than what most of the divas wear."

Steph had to laugh.  She could see the changes in her old friend, and she could see them occurring like they were pouring over her.  When Beth had stepped into her office to talk, there was very little of the girl she had known showing in her.  It was obvious that things had occurred that had shaped Beth into someone different. But even in the eight hours she'd been back, she was changing back into her old self.  

"Oh," Beth's voice dripped acid, "I see that you think I'm funny.  Wouldn't there be people who'd like to know some things that I know cuz Shane and I were friends, years back?"

"You wouldn't dare!"  Sure, Beth knew a lot, an awful lot of embarrassing stuff at that, but she wouldn't dare tell.  At least, Stephanie hoped she wouldn't.

"Can you be so sure about that?" It was accompanied by a smile, to reassure her friend that she wouldn't do that.  She wouldn't either.  She'd promised long ago not to ever tell people about the things they'd done as children and teens.  Besides, after she became Buffy and supposedly lost her virginity to the abusive monster that she'd married, she wouldn't have wanted Steph to tell her friends about the past.

She'd been easy as a teen.  Very easy.  She'd been more like Faith than Faith had ever known.

"Can we go through the tryout match now?"  She was getting nervous now that she was revisiting the past.  She was hoping that Shane wouldn't recognize her because he didn't know the meaning of the word tact. Sure, she wished he did, but he didn't.  So, she was hoping that he'd at least take a couple of weeks so that she could become her again.  Once that happened, she was almost positive that she could face her past.  She hoped.

"Sure," Kevin smiled.  "Let's go. Steph, do you want to come with?"  He figured that there were things about this new diva that he would never find out about, but he was accepting of that.  However, if Elizabeth ever got drunk and spilled secrets, it wouldn't be his fault.  Really.

The GM pretended to think it over before laughing.  "Of course I want to come."

**A/N: I solemnly swear not only to finish this one soon, but all the others I have started.  Look for an update extremely soon.  Until then, figure out who her father is.**


	3. Fall from Grace

**A/N: Thanks go out to everyone who reviewed.  Some important things to know are that: ANGEL DID NOT LOOSE HIS SOUL….THEY DROVE HIM OUT OF TOWN!  DRUSILLA KILLED KENDRA, AND SPIKE OPENED ACATHLA.  HE WAS SENT TO HELL WITH A STAKE IN HIS HEART FOR HIS TROUBLES.**

**Anon: They really did get married.  They also really did get divorced.  While I know that one must be eighteen to be married, they went to Vegas. **

**Morgana: This is my world; Catlimere can tell you that I never give a fuck about what's going on in reality.  Also, Jeff didn't break his back in reality but he did in my world.  As for your other question, keep reading.**

**Catlimere: I knew you would.  Faith and several of the others will be making appearances.  Look for an author's note on several of my stories soon.**

**Rosie: Love that you love it.  Faith will turn up; you should know by now that the Slayers are by far my favorite characters to write.**

**AllyCatHerm19: Well, here's an update.**

**REVIEW! REVIEW! Please.**

Chapter 2

The members of the nWo were inside of the locker room, several of them caught up in their own worlds.  Out of the entire group, only three of them weren't there.  Shawn Michaels had taken his son, Cameron, to visit his parents in San Antonio. And Kevin Nash, who was one of Shawn's lovers, was currently in a meeting with the GM of Smackdown, Stephanie McMahon.  The remaining Kliq didn't know it, but most of them were reflecting on the past.

Jeff Hardy, who was the other part of the trio, was reflecting on his stepdaughter.   He'd first met Shawn and Kevin back when the two of them were just starting to fall in love.  He knew that both of his lovers had hidden their relationship for the first year.  

Not even Cameron, who had been five at the time, had known.   That had been six years before and two years later he'd joined the pair.  All these years later, they still weren't overtly public about their relationship.  Sure, polygamous relationships had been legalized five years before, but that didn't really mean anything.

Shawn had told them about his daughter, Beth.  She'd been one of the two centers of his life.  For seven years, she'd been the **only** center.  When she was ten, though, Cameron had joined the small family and Beth had had to share her daddy with her little brother. Apparently, that was when she'd started getting distant. 

Kevin could vaguely remember a blonde girl who'd hung around with Stephanie and Shane McMahon.  Jeff had never met his other stepchild because her biological mother had gained custody of her right around the time that he had joined the company. 

It still tore Shawn apart. Six years had gone by and she'd never come back.  Mark Calloway could remember her as well and missed her almost as much.  If he didn't know better, Jeff would have thought that there was something there. Maybe there was. 

From what Steph and Shane said, who Beth had been around the rest of the world was totally different from the way she behaved around her father.  She'd been loose and loved it.  She'd been wild and crazy, similar to Steph except, according to Shane, Beth had been three times worse.

When Beth was fifteen, Shawn's sister had found out that Shawn was gay.  She'd dragged him to court for custody of the girl she'd abandoned nearly 12 years before.  He wouldn't have lost custody of Beth if he hadn't been gay.  That was a good part of why the three of them weren't obvious about their relationship.

Jeff couldn't help but wonder what had happened to her.  Was she still alive?  Did she make a couple of wrong turns and was too stubborn to ask for the directions back to her life? 

Or had the girl Shawn still mourned gone on with her life, calmly forgetting that there were people who loved her out there?

Sean Waltman was upset because he was recalling his little half brother.  He didn't let himself recall Alexander often; he honestly doubted that Xander had managed to survive. If he could have, he would have taken his eleven year old brother away from their drunken parents when he left at eighteen.  Well, their drunken mother and Xand's drunken father. But he hadn't been able to and when one considered how abusive they were, Xand was probably dead now.

Sean couldn't help but wonder if maybe, just maybe, Xander had managed to survive.   Maybe he should try to find his little bro. But maybe, tormenting himself with all these maybes would drive him to slit his wrists.

Hunter was thinking of the bitch that'd screwed him over good.  No one had told him the bachelorette party was being held for Stacy and the idea of Steph marrying Test had only been a cover.  So he'd kidnapped the wrong person and then the slutty whore turned out to be a fucking virgin. 

He had honestly been caught by surprise when he'd found that out.  That asshole, Vince McMahon, had lied when he said that she fucked every guy that moved.  

And then she'd extracted her revenge on national television.  Damn her to hell!  He **would get her back.**

The rest of the nWo were playing video games when their leader, their boss, and a girl they'd never seen before walked in.  "Guys," Kev spoke up, "this is Elizabeth Rosenberg."

Mark, who was walking by, stuck his head in the door.  "Damn, I didn't know you were into chicks with multicolored hair.  I thought that you were only into guys."

"Be real and get your fucking brain outta the gutter," Beth said coldly. "Steph thinks that he should let me into the nWo.  I don't care; I just wanna wrestle."

"Wow," Justin smirked. "I don't think that I have ever heard someone who was so adamant about wanting to wrestle. And you're a girl at that."

The moment Steph groaned, it was obvious that Justin had said something wrong.  Before anyone could ask why she'd groaned, the young woman had Justin pressed up against the wall, her hand loosely gripping his throat.  "Take that back.  You don't know anything about me or why I like wrestling. All you saw was that I'm female.  I'm aware that I look barely eighteen, even though I'm 21.  But that doesn't excuse your chauvinistic attitude."  Her fingers tightened. "Now apologize."

"I'm sorry, okay?"

"For?" she prompted.

"For insulting you?" he offered.

"Good enough," she sighed.  That was when she realized that while most of the people in the room hadn't ever known her well enough to recognize her from her instinctive reaction, there was one person.  She turned to him and introduced, "I'm Elizabeth Rosenberg.  You're the Undertaker, right?" She knew how much that title pissed him off, but if she was to pull this off convincingly, she had to act like someone who'd never been close enough to become friends with him.  She had to act like a woman who hadn't lost her heart to him when she was fourteen.  In short, she had to act like…like…Buffy.  Like the girl she'd invented and learned to act like.  She could do this. She knew she could.

He grimaced. "It's Mark.  I really hate that stupid name."

"Mark it is," she replied with a smile.  "And I'm called Beth."

"I knew someone named Beth once."  When she'd attacked Justin, she'd seemed like his Beth.  And when she smiled, it lit up her entire face.  Except for the hair, she looked exactly like Elizabeth Michaels.  From the way Steph was looking at her with concern, he was willing to bet that this girl **was** his Beth.  "Where'd you grow up?"

Beth shifted.  "Here and there. Now, I was promised that I could beat the shit out of Triple H to secure a place in the Kliq.  Can we go out to the ring?"

Everyone noticed the subtle shift of conversation, but a fight was always fun to watch.  Besides, who could this girl possibly be?  The Kliq stepped out to the ring, Beth slipping under the ropes as though she'd be born to do that.  

Before HHH could even blink, he found himself being thrown into the ropes and then chokeslammed so hard that the ring bounced.  She thought for all of half a second before leaping onto the turnbuckle, and then doing a move that none of the Kliq had ever seen before.  It was a half turn in the air, making it look like she was diving before she flipped so that, when she landed on her opponent, she landed on her knees. She immediately went for a three count and Hunter didn't have enough strength to fight back.

Jeff's jaw dropped.  "What the hell was that?"  He moved the wheelchair closer to the ring to hear her response.

"Someone once called it Fall from Grace."  She shrugged.  "It's been my finishing move for years."  What she didn't say was that it had been Mark who had named it and helped her practice it all those years ago.

"You could have been seriously injured if Hunter had moved!" Jeff hated it when new wrestlers didn't show caution. He hadn't and he'd broken his back and ended up in a wheelchair.

Beth gritted her teeth against the sharp retort.  "Jeff, that move has been something I've worked on perfecting and getting down to a fine art since I was fourteen years old.  If he had moved, then I would have come down on my feet.  I've timed my responses and reflexes so that if I have to land differently then I can.  Ask Mark; I think he was paying attention."

"Yes, I was," he squeezed the words past the lump in his throat.  He knew who she was for certain now.  He could remember being the person she landed on for days on end.  She'd always been devoted to becoming a better wrestler.  Of course, that had led to eight to twelve hour practices, six days a week. And he'd always seemed to be her favorite victim.  "She was being extremely careful, Jeff."

Hunter was still struggling to get up.  "You could have let me try to fight you."

Beth turned to him then, blue-green eyes flashing.  "Be glad I didn't hurt you worse. I've heard stories about you from an old friend of mine.  His name's Shane and to be honest, he's never liked you much.  So when he called me up one night, and told me that his sister was married, I about passed out from shock.  I mean, Steph may have been just his sister and not someone I knew very well, but I knew enough about her." She hoped Steph, her childhood best friend, would forgive her for lying. "You weren't her type.  And when he told me that you drugged her, I nearly flew out on the next flight.  But I didn't.  Instead, I emailed her to tell her that if she ever wanted revenge, I'd beat the shit outta you.  She collected today."

"And," Steph's voice was as cold as ice, "I asked my mother if I was allowed to fire someone.  She said that as the GM, it was well within my rights.  This is your last day here.  Be out of my arena by the show or else I'll have you arrested for trespassing."

"You can't do that!" He couldn't believe it.  He would have to get his revenge tonight or else the opportunity would slip through his hands.

"I can and I will."  Stephanie had been waiting for this chance for a long time.  But first she'd wanted Beth to be there to give him the beating of his life. One final piece of revenge would be hers though…She'd be showing the tape that night.

The rest of the nWo were still staring. 

Jeff was the first to regain his senses and started applauding.  Ever since Hunter had drugged the youngest McMahon, the nWo had had little but contempt for him. The others continued the applause without a moment's hesitation.

Beth knew that it wasn't the appropriate time, but she couldn't help it.  "Does this mean that I'm a member of the Kliq?"

Kevin couldn't help it, but for some reason he was reminded of Cameron when she spoke.  "Yes, it does."

She breathed a sigh of relief. "Good, now I can call my sister to find out why she left a panicked message on my voice mail."

"You have a sister?" Sean asked.

"Two sisters and a brother."  Beth chuckled. "We all adopted each other.  None of us came from the best of families and we bonded.  Since all of us except Willow needed someplace to live by the time senior year came around, we moved in with her.  We became a family."

"Yours wasn't the greatest?" Justin asked. Even though she didn't like him all that much, she was now a part of the nWo which meant that she was now a part of their family.

She laughed at that.  "I got damn good at defending myself in the months I lived with my biological father and my biological mother was very into verbal abuse.  When I decided that I wanted to get away, I was halfway through junior year.  I got married in Vegas and moved in with him.  Too bad no one told me that he was worse than my parents ever were."

Sean gasped at that. "You don't seem like the type."

"Is there a type?" She shook her head.  "All of us had similar backgrounds.  Faith's parents ended up driving her to seek the streets at twelve.  They were physically, emotionally, verbally, mentally, and sexually abusive.  Willow's parents were never there and when they were, she was never good enough for them."

Now that he understood that his newest cub had once been abused, and was probably fragile, Kevin wanted to know more about her.  "And what were your brother's parents like?"

Beth's eyes darkened.  She grabbed her cell phone from Stephanie, effectively ending the conversation.  She dialed the number from heart.  "Faith?  Hey, yourself…Well, why'd you call…What a bastard…Think he'll ever manage to hang onto one?  Well, what else were you calling about? What?!  Great, so now I have another destiny sister…I've already lost one, Fay…You'll understand if you ever have to look at one and know that if they'd not been Council-raised, they would have survived…Let me ask."

Turning to Steph, she asked, "Where are we tomorrow night?"

"Sacramento," she answered. "Why?"

"Then can my sibs come?"

"Indefinitely?" She knew how Beth's brain worked, and while she loved her dearly, she needed to know if she was going to justify having them travel with the company. 

"Xander, most definitely. Faith might stay and if she does, she kicks ass at hand to hand so she might be good at wrestling.  I don't know if Willow is even coming."

"They can stay for as long as you want them to." Steph smiled.  "Faith can stay as a diva and as for Xander, maybe he'd like to join as a wrestler?"

Again, Beth's expression shuttered.  "He can't be a wrestler."

"And why not?" Kevin demanded.  "Perhaps you're being an overprotective older sister?"

She turned back to her conversation.  "Hey, Fay, all of you can come…And the three of you can stay…You'll be a diva and I'll see if Steph might have a position for a computer expert…And I'll ask if she can use a teacher of some sort…Love ya too, lil sis…Bye."

After she hung up her cell, she looked over at the GM.  "Faith said she'll stay and be a diva.  She suggested that Willow could be used for something in connection to computers; she rocks at that.  And maybe if you have a position open for like a teacher of math or sciences, or something for Xander?"

Kevin grabbed her arm.  "Why did you say that he can't be a wrestler?  Answer the question, damn it!" 

She spun so that she was facing him.  "Do you really want to know? Then I'll tell you!  When I moved in with Willow during the last month of our junior year, we tried to get Xand to move in with us.  When Faith moved in a week after the last day of school, we tried to get him to move in again."  She stopped to get a handle on her emotions.

Sean was starting to get a terrible suspicion, several in fact.  He ignored them, hoping they'd go away.

"Two days later, he didn't come to our house to raid our fridge.  He never missed raiding it, so we figured that something was wrong."  She took another shaky breath before continuing. These were not fun memories to recall, in any way, shape, or form. "We went to his house, and you could literally smell the blood in the air. Wills picked the lock, and we let ourselves in.  Mr. Harris was passed out drunk on the couch and Mrs. Harris was stoned out of her mind.  We moved to the basement door.  We opened it, and there was Xander, sprawled at the base of the stairs.  We called 911. Both of his parents ended up going to jail for attempted manslaughter.  He woke up a week later, and he couldn't see.  It turned out that he'd injured his optic nerves.  Over time, he adapted, but they took so much from him."

Jeff pondered what she'd said for a moment.  "You know, I'm teaching Cameron right now but I suck at math and science.  I'm not much better when it comes to social studies.  It's language arts that I excel at.  Maybe your brother could do most of the teaching and I'd assist him?"

The grateful grin the young woman flashed him made everyone realize that she looked extremely tired.  "Thank you so much.  Can I go back to the hotel now?"

Everyone had to laugh.  Kevin nodded. "Sure, you can ride with Jeff and me on the way to Sacramento.  We're leaving at ten tomorrow morning."

"Thanks.  Have a good night sleep."  With that said, the tired Slayer grabbed her stuff.  Contrary to what she said, she wouldn't be going to the hotel.  She'd noticed a homeless shelter about three blocks from her hotel and she was smart enough to know what she'd find lurking around there.

**A/N: Over five pages and almost three thousand words. Look for an update soon.  Also, all technical knowledge can be attributed to this guy named Pete.  HE needs to get a life, but hey, he's helping in an indirect way to prompt me to get this damn fic finished.**

**REVIEW! REVIEW!**


	4. An interlude

That night, the Arena

Stephanie came out with the members of nWo behind her, knowing that they would have to back her decision.  "Everyone, I'm pleased to announce that we have a new diva named Beth.  She'd be here tonight but she looked like she was going to collapse from exhaustion."

Kevin spoke next.  "She's nWo all the way.  We're very glad to accept her as our first female."

The tape of the fight that had occurred about three hours before started to play.  The audience's mouths were open, not expecting the tiny slip of a girl to be so damn good. After the tape was done, more than one fan was shocked as hell. 

Before the GM could say anything more, a figure came running out.  It was Hunter, looking pissed. "Stupid bitch! You will be my wife!  Your father promised you to me."

The crowd just thought that it was a planned thing, but backstage, Beth was waiting.  She wasn't a fool.  She'd known that something like this would happen. Her eyes were more of a green color at that moment…a sign of how pissed off she was. 

Jeff did a double take at the sight of the young woman.  "Beth? I thought you were going to go back to the hotel?"

"I may have been tired, Jeff, but I'm no fool."  Her eyes hardened. "Hunter, however, is.  He messed with someone I once knew and that means that I will give him what's coming to him."

"Don't kill him!"

She smiled. It was more of a predatory smirk actually, but it conveyed her feelings.  "I don't kill humans.  That doesn't mean that I didn't have a friend report to the local police department that he was trespassing here and he was assaulting a woman.  She called it in about five minutes ago, so the police should be here right about…now."  

The sirens were clear, even though they were inside and the cars were outside.  

Jeff nodded. "There's a lot that we don't know, isn't there?"

She sighed. "You'll find most of it out soon enough.  As for right now, I'm really going to go back to the hotel.  I'll see you guys in the morning, k?"

"Okay."

Hunter was still screaming as the police officers dragged him away.  Beth hadn't told Jeff everything.  Willow had found an unsolved murder, matched the prints to some prints of Hunter's that Beth had lifted, and she'd sent the comparison and where to find him to the police.

He'd be doing twenty to life and the murder was that of a thirteen year old girl.  He wouldn't last in prison.


	5. Semi confessions and wagers

Chapter 3

The next morning, Beth pulled her hair back and grabbed her packed bag and laptop bag.  She traveled light; she'd perfected the technique as a child.  She gave the room another glance, and then pulled her cell phone out of the outlet where it'd been charging. "I cannot believe I almost forgot this. I think all of my siblings would skin me alive if I did," she muttered under her breath.

She walked down to where the other wrestlers were getting breakfast.  The only people anywhere near ready to leave were the nWo members.  Chris Jericho noticed her and growled, "Well, look, it's the nWo's little mascot."

The other wrestlers looked up at Jericho's comment. Kevin got up, fists clenched. "What did you just say, Y2Jackass?"

"Well, everyone knows that the Kliq doesn't take in women wrestlers." Jericho sneered. "So, she must be your mascot."

The next thing anyone knew, the tiny wrestler was holding the 236 pound man in one hand above her head. "I am no one's mascot!  I am strong and I am violent."

Jericho glared at the young woman.  "You're still female."

"Hunter made the mistake of crossing a friend of mine's sister," her voice was deadly calm, "and I wiped the ring with him.  For a cerebral assassin, he didn't cover his tracks very well when he committed murder a few years back.  Oh, he covered them well enough but when he was faced with someone who's best friend has links into virtually every crime database in country, he is only an amateur. "

Everyone's mouths fell open.  Before they could get over that shock and close their mouths, Shane McMahon came in.  "Bethie!"  At that one word, Beth dropped Chris, and ran over to hug the CEO of the WWE.

He spun her around as she laughed hysterically. "Put me down! Darlin', put me down this instant!"

"Don't you know, I'm older and I won't listen to you," he laughed.

She wore an impish grin as she asked, "So have you been dating recently?"  According to Steph, Shane was so far in the closet that it wasn't even funny.  As the bane of Shane's childhood, she had the right to torment the hell out of him.

"Beth!" he screamed.  The wrestlers' eyes widened as he set her down. "You are such a bitch."

"Don't you know that I learned from the best?  Kevin, Jeff, would you mind if I rode with Shane and Stephanie?"  It had been a long time since she'd been in a car with the two of them.  If this was going to be anything like trips had been when they were teenagers, the music would be blaring, she and Shane would be comparing notes on guys, and they'd all compare notes on fashion.

Jeff frowned.  They wanted to learn more about the young woman and they wouldn't be able to if she rode in another car.  "Why don't all of you ride with us?  Kid could drive Shane and Steph's car."

Beth knew better than to exchange a glance with Shane.  It would give away too much.  Even though there'd be more chances, this was special.  Besides, they couldn't be themselves if they were in a car with other people.

Shane sighed. "I guess.  But I thought that your car was always packed since your other husband and his son join you."  He could just see the bad possibilities here.  He may have had very little tact but he did know that Beth had been hurt badly.  If word about her got back to her father and brother before she was ready…

"I didn't know that ya'll were married," she said quietly.

Jeff smiled.  "We're sorry. We didn't want to scare you off.  Shawn Michaels and his son, Cameron, are the last part of our family.  But both of them are currently at Shawn's parents' house."

She managed a shaky smile. "You know what; Shane and I need time to rebond. And Stephanie can drive while we do the rebonding thing. So, thanks for the invite, but no thanks."  And with that, she fled.

"The car is pretty much identical to any other one we ever rented," Shane called after her.

Her scream of, "Thanks, Shane!" floated back to them.

Kevin stood up and faced Shane.  "Alright, why was it that she may not have been totally happy about riding with us but was going to come anyway until she was told that we're a part of a triad with Shawn?  Because then she practically looked like a deer caught in the headlights."

Jeff was thinking about something that had been said.  "'Any other one we ever rented,'" he repeated thoughtfully.  "Shane, do you have something you want to share about Beth?"

"No," he said forcefully. "And leave Bethie alone. She's taken some of the hardest knocks that Life's handed out over the years."

"Like being abused?" Kevin asked.

Shane paled. "Like that, yes."  He'd known about it, of course, but sometimes he wondered if they could have done something to prevent it.

Jeff noticed the paleness. "What don't we know about her?"

Shane sighed. "I prefer to stay alive and if I tell you anything, I will be six feet under.  Ask Mark."

"Ask Mark about Beth?" Kevin asked incredulously.  "What would he know about her?"

Shane shrugged. "Look, she's going to kill me as it is. I'd prefer not to be tortured along with that."

"What did you tell them?" Steph asked from the doorway to the restaurant.

"That they should ask Mark about Beth."

Stephanie groaned. "You're dead meat, brother. Especially since she's riding with them to Sacramento."

"No, she's not," every one of the wrestlers said in unison. 

"She's riding with us," Shane added.

"Great," Steph said with a grin. "First you get to tell her that you told two people that could tell the two people she doesn't want to know exactly who to go to for information. And while she may not know that they can tell—"

"She knows," he interrupted.

"What?" Steph asked.

"Better question," Scott Steiner asked quizzically, "what the hell are all of you talking about?"

Jeff, who'd been talking on his cell phone, hung it up and beamed. "Shawn and Cameron are going to be meeting us in Sacramento."

Stephanie and Shane groaned in unison. Stephanie spoke first. "Great, so now we have to worry about the past meeting the present." 

This time it was another Scott who was brave enough to ask.  "What the hell do you mean by that?"

"Look, Raven," Beth's voice came from the doorway, "you and everyone else will find out when we get to Sacramento.  Personally, I want to get on the road. Come on, Stephy, Shane.  I want to get it started."

Shane grinned. "We've got music and my pictures."

"And mine," Steph added.  "Have you got yours?"

"Hell yes," she grinned. "And I've also got tales from the past six years that's gonna make your head spin around and do a three sixty."

"Ain't gonna surprise us," Steph said with mock arrogance.  "We grew up here, remember?"

"How could I forget?" she retorted. "Fine. Shane, what's the wager?"

 "If Steph isn't surprised, then you have to ask HIM on a date.  If Steph is surprised then she has to ask her crush on a date."

"No way!" both of them shrieked in unison.  "Jinx! No, double jinx!"

Shane sighed. "You know, that is just creepy. I'd probably be more freaked out if I wasn't already thinking of all the possible pain that could come out of this bet."

"You're going to pay for that bet in the car!" Beth promised.

"Great," Steph said, "can I pay too?"

At that response, all three of them cracked up, and waved good bye.  "See ya'll in Sacramento," Beth called over her shoulder.

After their bosses and the newest member of the nWo had left, the majority of the wrestlers exchanged confused glances.

Molly Holly summed it up the best.  "Oh, yeah. We are definitely missing something there."

**A/N: Short chapter.  Review and you'll get a longer one.  Hey Catlimere, aren't you so glad this isn't another song fic?**


	6. Why road trips can be bad things

Chapter 4: Or why one never wants to go on a road trip with the Twisted Three.

They squealed out of the parking lot, the sound bringing to mind far too many other road trips. Shane, who was driving, grinned.  "Isn't that such a familiar sound, girls?"

"You know it is," Beth agreed.  She was already flipping through some of Shane's pictures.  "Ooo. What's with the naked pic of Steph?"

Stephanie looked back at her best friend. "What naked pic?"

"The one that Shane included in his pile of embarrassing pictures," the youngest person in the car answered.  It wasn't a lie either; she was staring at a pic of her new boss sleeping in the nude.  To make the picture even more hilarious, whoever had snapped it had painted her in whip cream and added strawberries and blackberries as the very strange garnishing.

"Let me see that!" The woman nicknamed the Ice Princess turned red as soon as she ripped the picture out of Beth's hands.  "Shane, when in the hell did you take this?!"

Her brother simply smirked which caused steam to come out of her ears.  

They'd barely left the town of Salem, Oregon and they still had five hundred and thirty miles to go.  At this rate, they'd all kill each other before they crossed the Oregon California border. At least, that would have been what others would have thought.

In reality, this was one of the ways they made the trips go faster.  One trip, they'd done nothing but talk about the people they had all been with at that time. They'd even gone so far as to compare lesbian sex, which was what Steph was going through at that time, with male on male action, which was Shane's department, to heterosexual sex.  The last area was firmly Beth's area of expertise although Steph had experimented with guys before.

The memory brought a slight smile to Beth's lips. Shane caught a glimpse of it in the mirror and groaned. "Have mercy, she's got that smile again."

Beth started to laugh. "Relax, darlin'. I was just thinking of the time we compared the different types of sex."

Stephanie joined her in her laughter. "I always thought what was really hilarious was that your dad had just given you the sex talk and you were about fourteen by then."

Shane added, "And we all knew that you were so not a virgin by the time you were thirteen."

"You guys may have comprehended that," she sighed, "but he hadn't. Although it was funny watching him blunder through the Talk."

Steph chuckled. "I'm certain it was. To be honest, I've always been glad that our parents just kinda forgot to tell us any of that."

"No shit." Shane grinned devilishly.  "It's time to look through Steph's pictures."

Beth grabbed Steph's stack of pictures while Steph took the stack of Shane's from her.  A few minutes later, Steph shrieked again. 

Beth looked up front.  "What strange and embarrassing photo did you find?"

Her friend was now laughing.  "A picture of when Zach bit Vince's penis.  You should see Vince's expression." 

Shane took his eyes off the road for a moment. "Why do you think I included that picture?"

"I wanna see it!" Beth grabbed the picture from Stephanie's outstretched hand and started to crack up. "I feel bad for him."

"For Vince?" both McMahon children asked in unison.  To anyone who'd been around the WWE, then the WWF, when they were growing up, it had been apparent that Beth loathed the ground that Vince McMahon walked on, to say nothing about how she felt about him.  In return, Vince hated the oldest Michaels child with a passion.  Therefore, her comment was surprising.

"No," she laughed, "for Zach. He had to have Vince's dick in his mouth."

"You know," Shane said thoughtfully, "I never thought of it that way."

"Now I remember why Mom always thought that she was a bad influence," Steph grinned.

"Moi? What did I ever do to you?" She said it with a mock innocent expression, which was enough to cause all of them to start laughing hysterically again.

Once Shane had calmed down enough, he snorted. "Bethie, I love you. I really do, but I can recall quite a few things that I know your father never knew about."

"Like what?" she asked, her eyes dancing.

"Well, there was the incident that scared the Rock out of his mind," Steph started, "and made him terribly afraid of you.  As I remember it, you literally screwed him senseless and then asked for a ride back to the arena because, and I quote, 'My dad, Shawn Michaels, gets real pissed when I don't get back the arena after I go shopping. Or so he thinks. I don't think that he'd want to know that his thirteen year old daughter is bar hopping and getting laid.' End quote."

She shrugged. "Whatever, Steph. You were so much worse than I ever was.  Is an excursion we took to Buckner, Ohio ringing any bells?"

Shane smirked. "Is it ever! I remember that Steph didn't want to but she was piss drunk and we'd double dog dared her.  So she got a tattoo right on the inner part of her crotch reading in Japanese, 'I'm a lesbian!'"

"What is this, pick on Stephanie day?!" the exasperated brunette almost screamed. "Besides, I may have been drunk out of my mind, but I wasn't the only one!"

With a toss of her long hair, Beth replied, "No, but it is make Stephy angry as hell day!  And besides, when we were teenagers, when **weren't we drunk?"**

"I thought that both of those things were damn near every day occurrences," Shane said nonchalantly. 

"I've missed this," Beth said out of the blue. "I've missed country music blaring from the speakers and the three of us screaming to be heard over the sound."

"I've actually missed the fights," Steph added.  "I've missed comparing embarrassing photos and strange dates."

"I've missed my sisters," Shane said wistfully. "Think we can be those people again?" 

Beth paused. "Honestly, I don't think that we can be.  But we can be better people.  We can regain some of what we lost and we can make a new relationship."

After they all reflected on the sentiment, Steph cleared her throat. "Now that the sappy shit's done, tell the weird stories, Bethie."

"Not until you tell us who you're crushing on, Stephy," the other girl shot back.

"No," she muttered.

"Then you don't get the stories and you automatically have to ask your crush out on a date," Shane said firmly.

She sighed. "It's Lita, alright?  And don't even begin lecturing me. I am quite aware that not only is she straighter than the steel posts in the ring, she's also homophobic."

"Well," Beth began slowly, "you can't ask your crush out then.  I may have a sadistic streak, but I'm not heartless.  But people will have to believe something, because trust me, my stories are beyond weird.  My sibs come, and they're going to figure out that something is off about us.  It will happen, and then they'll wonder why the bet was never fulfilled."

"Why don't you just ask HIM out then?" Steph suggested logically.  "That will fulfill the bet."

"No," Beth snapped. "I can't do that Steph.  He's my past and I can't let my past come back to haunt me."

"So," Shane pointed out, "he already knows. He's also keeping his mouth shut, and not telling anyone…Oh.  Bethie, you still love him, don't you?"

"Well, look at this picture of Shane in a dress!" she exclaimed far too cheerfully.  The others knew the diversion was exactly that, and wouldn't let it rest.

"First of all," Shane began, as they pulled up to a Denny's restaurant, "you knew me as a teen. You've seen me in heels and an evening gown before. Hell, you've been part of the three of us dressing up in identical outfits before. That picture isn't embarrassing to you. Secondly, you are still in love with him."

"He has kids my age!" she yelled, just as they pulled open the door. Several of the wrestlers were already there, and they gave the newest diva odd looks. They didn't know much about her, but why would she be yelling about some man who had kids her age?

"Come on, Bethie," Shane cajoled, "even I know that you've had the hots for him for forever.  Just ask him out already."

The petite diva looked him square in the eye and laughed bitterly. "Darlin', we played the relationship game. Hell, why do you think I stopped whoring around?  I fell in love, that's why. But I've been married and I've been divorced.  I honestly believe that that love ain't for me anymore. When ya'll are done eating come back to car. I'm stayin' there!"

As the diva slammed the door behind her, Mark Calloway stood up. "I'll go talk to her.  Maybe it'll help when she has to confront her family."

Every wrestler in the place, and that was about a quarter of the company, about passed out from shock. The surprise intensified when Shane nodded. "Just, I really have the feeling that you might die if you tell her you're still in love too."

"Not enough room in that car for her to do Fall from Grace. She'd have to leave the car so that she could kick off of the car or perform it mid-air." He said it matter-of-factly.  Beth had violent tendencies, and he knew quite a few tricks to avoiding her anger. She knew tricks to avoiding his anger as well. They were even on that front.  "Besides, since when did the difference in age become a problem for her?"

 "Better question," Steph whispered, "when did the two of you go and fall in love?"

"We didn't—"

"Yes, you did," Shane told him.  "Somehow, we all missed that."

He shut his eyes. "You heard her.  She isn't quite the girl she was."

"And you aren't the same Deadman." Steph laughed. "Now go get your girl."

"Thanks Steph," he expelled a deep breath.  "If she kills me, I want to be buried in my family's plot."

The general manager laughed.  Mark had always been a coward when it came to telling her best friend how he felt. The years hadn't changed that fact.  "She won't kill you.  Just attempt to be as non-threatening as possible, Mark.  Hopefully, she won't get violent."

"Hopefully," Mark muttered. "Hopefully is right!"

After the man who was known to fans as the Undertaker had stalked out, the wrestlers faced their bosses.  

"Well," Trish Stratus started, "what the hell just happened?"

"Umm," Steph started hesitantly, "we can't tell you that."

"Like hell you can't!" Rey Mysterio burst out. "Ever since she came, we all have known that she somehow had connections within the business.  Every time we ask about her, however, we get a bunch of nothing!"

"You know nothing about her!" Shane yelled. "She has never done anything to deserve the blows that life has dealt her. Yes, she has connections in the business.  But we aren't telling you why."

"Then we'll quit!" Glenn Jacobs said threateningly.  Glenn was one of the largest wrestlers, and Mark's half brother. On television, he was known as Kane.

"Glenn," Stephanie began, "you already know her."

"No, I don't," he said, shaking his head. "Only Beth I ever knew was that pretty blonde Michaels girl, and she disappeared from the company six years ago."

"What blonde Michaels girl?" Edge asked, looking and sounding as confused as his coworkers.

"Shawn's daughter or niece," Glenn stated. "I can't remember which."

"The blonde Beth was Shawn's adopted daughter and biological niece," Shane sighed. "I'm only telling you this since you're going to find everything out when we all get to Sacramento."

"We will?" Rey asked. 

"Yes," Steph nodded, "you will. We're leaving since I'm hoping that they've made up by now."

"I'm just hoping that we aren't going to walk in on them making up," Shane grumbled as they left.

The wrestlers were left gazing at each other in confusion…again.  All of them except Glenn didn't understand what had just happened.  He was lost in the memories of how happy Mark had been with the petite blonde.

_~~~Flashback, six years before~~~ _

_"Mark, she's a teenager." Glenn Jacobs paced the locker room that the Brothers of Destruction were sharing.  "And she's a wrestler's daughter to boot!"_

_"So?" Mark Calloway sighed heavily. "Glenn, I love her. And she loves me.  Yes, we're aware that her father will probably give birth to a whole litter of kittens when he finds out, but that can't be helped."_

_"What happens if he decides to press charges?" His brother stared at him in shock. Obviously, this thought hadn't occurred to him.  "What about that?  You could go to jail!"_

_"What? But we love each other."_

_"It's called statutory rape, Mark.  And it doesn't matter if she's consenting."_

_~~~End Flashback~~~_

Glenn still didn't know what the lovers had decided. The very next afternoon, Mark had come back to the locker room really upset.  Beth had disappeared the following week.

"Alright Glenn, what are we missing?" Trish tapped her foot, glaring at him.

"Nothing, I swear!"

*********************

Stephanie and Shane tiptoed out to the car, each looking apprehensive. "I hope she didn't kill him," Shane muttered.

"I hope they aren't making up in the backseat of the car," Stephanie commented logically.

"They would do that?" Her brother looked at her with a horror stricken expression.  "I mean, don't they want to wait to do that on a bed?"

"Those two wait?" She started to laugh. "Shane, you obviously never listened to her talk about him."

As they approached the car, they exchanged uneasy looks.  

"Hey you two," Beth called.  She looked happier than she had during the entire time she'd back with the company.

"Have fun?" Stephanie smirked.  Her meaning wasn't even thinly veiled.  It was blatantly there, simply unsaid.

Mark emerged from the other side of the car. "We didn't go that far. We figured that we should at least have a couple of heart to heart talks before we made love again."

"Good thinking," Shane nodded. "Mark, do you want to go rejoin the others so that we can leave?"

"Sure," Mark agreed. He knew how important the car trips had always been to the trio. "I'll see all of you when we get to Sacramento, okay?"

"Of course, babe," Beth said, pressing herself against him.  After a long kiss, Mark continued back towards the restaurant since he was riding with his brother.

"You're right, Shane," Beth spoke up once they'd left the parking lot. "I do still love him."

"I love being right," he commented smugly.

"Go find a cock to suck," Beth growled, but the effect was ruined because of the smile playing at the corners of her mouth.

"Only if you can tell me of someone nice who wouldn't give the tabloids information that I really don't want splashed across the front page."  Shane's eyes were sad as he gazed back at the black-haired beauty.

"I don't know," she shrugged, "but you and Xander might be good together.  The same goes for you and Willow, Stephy."

"Thanks, Shane. Thanks a lot," Steph glowered at her older brother. "Now you've got her matchmaking again."

"Oops."

**A/N: Well, this is going to be one of the final chapters in this story.  I figure that another three chapters should be good.  I'm hoping to turn out another chapter by Monday or Tuesday.  After that, don't ask me when I'll be able to post again.  My life is busy, and it just gets busier with every passing year.**

**Also, Catlimere, on Siblings, you commented on her family tree. I based Dawn's family on my own, which is just a bit smaller…if you don't count my half-siblings' children and my step-parents' families. If you do that, it's quite a bit larger. **

**REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!**


	7. Conferences, Abuse, and Reunions

Chapter 5

Shawn and Cameron flew into Sacramento, each excited to be getting back to their family and the company.  

Cameron, being the mature eleven year old that he was, was bouncing up and down in his seat.  The brunette who was sitting across from him slanted a grin his way.  "Bouncer, chill.  I'm certain there's something you can to do work out the hyperness without the bouncing."

"My name's not Bouncer," he protested, still making his chair vibrate. 

"You're bouncing," the redhead sitting in front of Shawn said, "and that's enough of a qualification for Faith to call you Bouncer."

Shawn couldn't help it.  If the two women were anything like his daughter, they wouldn't appreciate being laughed at, but he chuckled anyways. "They're right, Cameron.  You should stop bouncing."

"D-a-a-a-d-d-d-d!" he whined.  "What's wrong with me bouncing?"

Shawn frowned at his only son. Like Beth, Cam was a handful. Unlike Beth, he hadn't learned the trick to calming down at will.  He also hadn't learned to be dedicated to anything. "You're acting like you're strung out on sugar, that's what's wrong."

"Like Bet never acted worse," Cam scoffed. He'd been the only one who'd ever been allowed to call Beth by that name.  Not even their father was allowed to use it.

"Yes, your sister did act worse quite a bit, but you aren't her." Shawn looked his son straight in the eyes, ignoring the fact that the two girls and the guy sitting next to them were all raptly listening to their conversation.  "You are you, Cameron Michaels, not your sister or some high flyer.  You are my son and I love you."

"I love you too, Dad." Cam sniffled. "It's just that it seems like you're always making these comparisons between the two of us in your head. It's illogical, I know, but I can't help but wonder sometimes if you loved Bet better."

"I love both of you equally."

Faith swiped at her eyes. "Damn it, sappy shit always makes my eyes water."

"Excuse me, Faith was it?" Shawn looked at the brunette who just stared back at him with a smirk on her face.

"That's right."

"Faith, my son is eleven, and you just swore twice in front of him."  He leveled a gaze at her that had the redhead cringing.  Faith on the other hand, just gazed at him.

"I was already cussing by the time I was his age," she responded, as the seatbelt light flashed.  "Yo, put on your seatbelt, Xand."

"Thanks, sis," the guy said.  Xander hated the fact that anything that required a light were things that he couldn't respond to, unless someone told him that they'd come on, like Faith had. 

"It's nothing," she shrugged. "Look, mister, I'm so sorry that I swore in front of your kid. I'm sorry, Bouncer."

"It's alright," Cam dismissed, somehow knowing that she actually meant it. "It's not like I haven't heard stronger curses."

That was the last they heard the preteen say, because everyone started exiting then. The three of them always got off the plane last, because that meant that Xander's guide dog wasn't getting in the other passengers' way.  Well, okay, it was more like the other passengers would try to pet Xand's guide dog, but still.  It would interfere with Apocalypse's ability to work either way.

At the baggage claim, they saw the two again.  "So, Fay, why'd Beth take this job anyways?" Xander asked. 

"It's got something to do with her childhood, although she's never actually explained it to me," the youngest Rosenberg explained. "I figure that she might explain it eventually."

"I hope eventually isn't never," Willow chuckled.

"Or not explaining until it ends up getting her in trouble," Xander added.  

"Do you realize," Faith questioned, as they hailed a cab, "that we have just covered the various ways that we've each avoided our pasts?"

"Except for you," Xander pointed out. "You ignored your past until it came back to haunt you."

"Maybe that's the way Beth plays the game of denial," Willow mused. 

"Maybe," Faith and Xander agreed, and that was the last of their conversation until they reached the hotel.

***************

They made it to Sacramento without anymore mishaps, although Beth kept silently wondering what it was that would be waiting for them at the hotel.  The others hadn't said anything, which meant that whatever it was, it wasn't something she'd like.

As they pulled into the hotel parking lot, she stared hard at her friends. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Nothing, Bethie," Shane reassured her.

"Cut the bullshit. What are you hiding?"

"Nothing," Steph repeated her brother's word.

"I still have an entire stack of embarrassing photos," she told them, "and I'm not afraid of using them."

Both of her friends blanched.  She'd shown long ago that she was capable of much more than most would expect.  Faced with her steely determination, it was Steph who broke first. "Shawn and Cameron are meeting back up with the company today.  We didn't want to tell you so that you wouldn't yell and scream."

"Or take off and not come back," Shane put in helpfully.  

"Girl," Steph took a deep breath, "you're one of us.  Please don't leave. Not again."

"Enough with the sentimental crap, Stephy.  I'm not taking off, swear to Heaven above and hope to die."  Beth got out of the car, her expression uncertain.  "I'm going to face it, and if violence is involved, then I get to have fun while I'm at it."

"Bethie," Shane shook his head, "has anyone told you that one shouldn't consider violence as being important to having fun?"

"Yes," she retorted, "but has anyone told you that I don't give a flying fuck?"

"That's our girl!" Steph grinned. Both Stephanie and her brother had seen the expression on Beth's face and known how uncertain she was. The last time she'd been that uncertain was when she started to fall in love with Mark.  Things hadn't gone well either.  She'd run away from Mark because she didn't think that she deserved the love that he was offering her.  It had been nearly a month before he'd gotten her to agree to go on a date with him.

"Let's go shake up my family tree again," Beth grinned.

"You realize that this is going to be a wonderful experience?" Shane questioned.

"What on earth are you smoking, darlin'?" Beth's raised eyebrow definitely got her point across.

Her friend rolled his eyes. "How many people will be shocked by what's going to go down in a few minutes?  And how many of them will be people who have thought that you aren't ready to be a wrestler or wondered about your connections?"

"You're right," Beth agreed, "this is going to be fun."

"Now let's go," Steph grinned, even though her stomach was churning.  It had been a long time since Cameron and his father, Shawn, had seen Beth.  What if they didn't want her anymore?

Walking into the hotel, the three of them were firmly pressed together.  It was a technique that they'd all perfected growing up to show their united front. It was like traveling light...totally necessary.  They knew that the revelations were going to shake up the WWE, but they didn't care. Or at least, they were pretending not to care.

The wrestlers were all surprised as the two McMahon children passed by, obviously having included the black-haired girl into their close friendship. The McMahons were standoffish when it came to socializing with wrestlers, which was another hint that something was different about the new girl.

Then Stephanie spoke. "Alright, everyone listen up.  I want the entire roster to be in suite 410 by six-thirty.  That gives you an hour and a half to spread the word about the meeting, and do whatever you want before hand. If you aren't there, you will be fired. If I'm not the one that fires you, someone else will. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am," Mark responded, knowing exactly what the meeting was about. 

"Got it, Stephanie," Matt Hardy and Lita sneered in unison.  Neither of them particularly liked the brunette general manager and tried to do everything in their power to insult her as often as possible.

Beth leveled an angry gaze at them. "If you ever back talk like that to anyone in this company again, you will find yourself in a match against me and the newest diva, who will be arriving soon. After the match, which I guarantee that you will lose, you will find yourself jobless and unable to find another one."

"You're a wrestler, same as us," Lita smirked, "which means you can't say those things."

"Beth has my absolute support on those conditions," Shane said, raising an eyebrow, "and I'm not just a wrestler, now am I?" 

Without responding, the two stalked away.  It was rare for Stephanie's retaliation to be more than a match that she knew they wouldn't win.  Those they could handle, but another one of their bosses and a pissed off diva? Forget it.

"Chalk another one up for us!" Beth said, doing an edited victory dance, before exchanging high fives with Shane.

"No one talks like that to Steph, and gets away with it," Shane agreed. "But seriously, how good is Faith?"

"With about two hours of instruction, she'll be my equal."  Beth's face was serious as she said it, even though everyone's jaws dropped. While most of them didn't know about the years of practice that she'd gone through to become as awesome as she was, they weren't fools. They knew this other new diva had to have been good, and have some kind of secret weapon to be able to be that good.

"How the hell is that possible?" Steph managed to gasp out.

"You don't want to know," Beth shook her head with a wry smile.  "It goes back to the weird shit I was barely talking about in the car."

"No kidding," someone new muttered. "Hey, big sister."

"Xander!" Beth grabbed her brother and wrapped him tight in a bear hug.

"Air…becoming…an…issue…here!" he choked out.

"Oops," she muttered apologetically. "So didn't mean to."

"You and Faith never do," he groaned. "So neither of you plan on checking your strength so that you're simply a normal person?"

"If the match is against people we don't hate and we don't think they'll try to kill us, we will."

"If not, they get to have the thrashing of their lives."

"What in the hell are you two talking about?" Shane stared at his best friend and the guy who was apparently her brother.

"I'll explain that later, okay? Possibly even during the meeting."  Beth stared back at him, her eyes communicating everything she wasn't saying.  They'd been friends for long enough that it wasn't that hard.  Hell, it was downright easy.

"Okay," Shane nodded. "We'll see you all for the meeting in about an hour from now."

"What meeting?" Faith and Willow chimed as one. The two other Rosenbergs had just turned up, and they were both as curious as ever.

"It's a meeting to inform the wrestlers of several things that they should know," Shane said diplomatically.

"So Xander and I don't have to be there, right?" Willow questioned.

"You are both still a part of the company," Beth shrugged, "so that means you have to be there."

 "Great," Faith groaned, as they walked upstairs, "I hate meetings!"

***********************************************

An hour later, everyone was filling the McMahons' suite, which connected to the Rosenbergs' one.  When the four of them walked in through the connecting door, every wrestler, including the Michaels, had already gathered in the living room.  Well, Lita and Matt had been uninvited due to the fact that they did not need to know the information.

Cameron's eyes widened at the sight of the three people who'd been on the plane with him.  "Faith? What are you doing here?"

"Fay, how do you know him?" Beth's eyes were narrowing just as dangerously as Shawn's.  Shawn was not a happy camper.  Who would be, in his situation?

"Bouncer was on the plane with us," Willow answered for her sister.  

Beth laughed heartily at the nickname. And then it just slipped out. "Aww, what did CamCam do to be called Bouncer? Did he eat too many pixie sticks?"

Everyone in the room stared at the tough diva. She'd already gotten a reputation as being a hard-assed bitch.  So even though most of the company didn't understand the implications of the nickname, everyone was surprised at the comments.  Instead of her normal comments, these just sounded like a big sister's teasing.

They were even more flabbergasted when Cameron stared at Beth before running into her arms. "You came back," he sobbed. "You really came back, Bet."

"Oh, CamCam," she sighed, still holding him close. "I'm sorry I didn't come back. I'm so sorry."

"Hold it," Trish said, holding up her hand. "Hold it right there, and go back to the beginning."

Before the older Slayer could do just that, a cell phone started to ring.  "Hello?" she answered.

A moment later her eyes went wide. "Cordelia, if it's that bad both of you need to get out of there…Cordy, I'm serious…I know that he's rough and mean…I was married to him, remember?...I know I didn't have a three year old to worry about, but I also had no self-esteem…Cordy, I thought I deserved the abuse…No one deserves to be abused…If you won't leave, will you let Connor come live with Xander, Faith, Wills, and me?...Alright, we'll be in L.A. in two days time…If you want to come with us, have your bags packed, too…Oh, Cordelia…Good-bye."

The moment her cell had been hung up, Xander burst out with, "Angel's beating her again, isn't he?  And he's trying to harm Connor this time around, right?"

"And you volunteered to get the two of them out of there, didn't you?" Willow chimed in.

"But Queen C always has been stubborn and she's only going to send Connor on to us, and stay with Angel until the day he beats her within an inch of her life, ain't she?" Faith finished.

"She probably won't even leave him then," Beth said ruefully. "She hasn't been in love with him for a very long time, but she was taught that marriage is through the good and the bad.  And it's for life."

"You were too," Xander pointed out, "but you left him."

"He nearly killed me, Xand," she hissed.  "When a man does that, it ceases to be a marriage. It becomes a fight you have to win at any and all costs.  I did that, but I never thought he'd find a way back. I never thought he'd end up hurting one of my friends in the same way he hurt me."

Every one of those gathered in the room suddenly realized that this slip of a girl had been through a lot. 

"Bet," Cam asked timidly, "why'd you let anyone hurt you?  You were strong enough to fight back. I know you were."

"Cameron," she said, shaking her head, "I was seventeen when I married him. I wasn't even eighteen when the divorce was finalized.  And I'd already been through two years of constant abuse at the hands of my biological parents.  Somewhere along the way, I lost myself.  I'd lost everything that had made me who I was.  Hell, by then I wasn't just playing the part of Buffy Summers, I'd become her. And all she'd ever known was one form of abuse or another."

Torrie Wilson's jaw was on the floor by then, because she'd been abused by a boyfriend that she'd dumped within a week of when it started.  She couldn't imagine going through years of abuse.

"Beth, I'm so sorry.  I shouldn't have let them take you away," Shawn said, stepping forward.

"Understand please," the blue streaks in her hair were quivering; she was that mad, "that you didn't have much of a choice.  They rigged the entire thing, and purposely paid that judge.  Yes, my life wasn't the greatest from then on, but it got better!"

"If it hadn't," Xander muttered, "Faith would have a different sister."

"I already have a different sister, moron," the Slayer in question snarled. "Her name is Rosa and she's only sixteen.  But she's older than both Beth and I were when we were Called."

"Ain't Destiny a bitch?" Beth asked, seemly to no one in particular.  "I mean, who'd of thought that you'd have your heart stopped by an Electricity demon?"

"And who would have thought that getting your heart stopped for less than thirty seconds would trigger the Call for **another** one of us?  I mean, honestly, there's only supposed to be one of us at a time!" Faith raged.

"And instead there is now three," Willow smirked. "Destiny is so a bitch."

"Ummm," Shane started hesitantly, "what are all of you talking about?"

Each Rosenberg found a place to sit before continuing their story.  Faith was the one to offer the explanation.  "Oh, just the normal.  I mean, vampires and demons have existed from the dawn of time.  So have Vampire Slayers, which both of us are.  Well, B and me anyways. Red's just one of the most powerful witches on Earth since the time of Merlin."

"But there's only supposed to be one Slayer," Xander finished. "Beth died when she was sixteen due to being drowned by a master vampire.  Cordy and I preformed CPR on her, and then she went to slay the big bad.  Kendra was Called then though, and she died less than a year later.  Faith was Called because of that, and then she had to go and die momentarily."

"But none of that explains why the kid who was on the plane is now wrapped around the oldest of us," Willow pointed out, sounding calm.  The thing was, was that her siblings knew better than to believe the calm tone.  She was pissed, make no mistake about that.

"Cameron's my adopted brother, he's ten years younger than me and I haven't seen him since I was fifteen and the custody battle happened. My biological parents won custody of me, and I was forbidden, by the judge no less, from having contact with anyone from the WWE. Of course, back then, it was the WWF.  And my biological mother had left me—abandoned me, to be blunt—with my uncle, whom I grew up calling Dad. Hell, he even adopted me. But the fact that he was gay changed that in Joyce's eyes. And they had the fucking judge in their fucking pocket, paying him damn-mother-fucking blood money!" She didn't take a breath anywhere in the entire speech, and by the time she was done, was gasping for air.

"Shit," Glenn muttered. "At least now I know why Mark was so upset."

Shawn flashed a quick look in Glenn's direction.  "Why would Mark have been upset when it was my daughter who was being taken away?"

"Because Mark was in love with her, of course." Glenn looked like he couldn't believe his ears.  Until he remembered that conversation he and Mark had had years before, and gulped. "Fuck.  You didn't know about that."

"You're damn right I didn't." His blue eyed gaze settled firmly on his daughter.  "Do you have something that you want to tell me?"

"Dad, I was dating him. So what?  I am again, and the statue of limitations has run out, so don't even think of pressing charges, Daddy."

"Elizabeth Anne Michaels, why are you dating a man older than you by so much?  He's old enough to be your father!"

"But he's not! You are, remember?" she answered cheekily. "Besides, only one of his kids are my age. All the others are younger than me."

Jeff was trying not to laugh at his stepdaughter's antics.  She was only a few years younger than him, but she was acting like she was Cameron's age.  "And here I thought that you were a hard ass," he teased gently. "Who would have thought that you're a marshmallow?"

Her siblings, except for Cam, were all waiting for the trademark acidic response. Despite the fact that he was married to her father, she responded. "You know, I'm not a marshmallow. I'm the opposite of sweet and you can be glad that you've never seen me when I was pissed off.  I just get a little weird when I'm around my youngest brother."

"Which brings us to the question of why did you come back to a place where you knew that you'd confronted with your family?" Xander asked. "I mean, you've always seemed to be like the rest of us."

"You mean hiding from my past?" she questioned wryly.

"Yeah," Faith agreed.

"I was," she sighed, "until you told me to try out for the WWE. I knew I could get the job, and if I couldn't, I could get another one by talking to Steph or Shane or Linda.  I just lacked the nerve to tryout."

"Great," Willow and Xander said together, "so we have Fay to blame for you leading your past and present on a collision course?"

"How do you two do that?" Beth asked with a shake of her head.  "Never mind, I decided that I really don't want to know."

Shawn leveled a stare at his oldest child.  She had been gone so long, and now that she was back, it was obvious that she had been through Hell. "Does this mean I have to be nice to the girl who swore in front of Cam on the plane trip here?"

"Daddy," Beth laughed, "I swore more in my five minute babble than Faith did on the plane, I'm betting."

"You're my daughter. She isn't."

"But Faith and Willow are my sisters, same as Xand being my brother. Which reminds me," she looked over at her youngest sibling, "do you mind having my other brother teaching you?"

"As long as he's a better teacher than Jeff," Cam muttered darkly, "then I have absolutely no problems."

"One would think that I'm not a good teacher," Jeff protested.

"You aren't," his stepson returned.

While the former high flyer colored, the entire room laughed loudly. Beth simply smirked.  "My brother certainly learned how to speak his mind.  I'm so proud.  Just do me a favor, Cam, and try not to follow in my footsteps when it comes to relationships."

"Oh," Stephanie suddenly exclaimed, "that reminds me. The Rock is coming back on RAW, as long as you don't mind, Beth."

Trish and Molly exchanged confused looks with Torrie before Molly spoke. "Why would it matter if Beth minded?"

Before any of the three that knew could tell the assembled group, a knock at the door made them all look up. "Who is it?" Shane called out.

"It's your mother," Linda answered, "now let me in."

As soon as the McMahon matriarch stepped in, she received an arm full of petite diva. "Linda!"

"Now, Beth," her tone was reproachful and all of the wrestlers, save Shawn, thought that she was going to yell about the familiarity that the young woman showed, "how many times do I have to tell you that I don't mind you calling me Aunt Linda?"

"Well, I just figured you wouldn't want me to call you that anymore since I'm not a little girl anymore." The black haired girl hung her head. "I'm sorry, Aunt Linda."

"Bethie, darling, don't worry about it. We need to catch up soon and talk about everything that's been happening in your life."

"You mean after we explain to the shocked wrestlers why the second-newest diva knows the owner of the company well enough to actually call her Aunt Linda?" Beth's smile told the wrestlers that she knew how confused they were and she simply wanted to laugh.

"Oh," Linda snickered at her employees' expressions. "Beth grew up with my children and I used to teach her.  Up until Joyce gained custody, I taught Cameron as well.  But by then, Stephanie was about to leave for college, Shane had already left, and Beth was suddenly gone. But Beth, you realize that I'm retiring, don't you?"

"Stephanie told me that right before I became the first female nWo member."  Once again, everyone was confused as she stared intently at Linda. "It's time for me to take my place isn't it?"

"Yes, Elizabeth," Linda confirmed. "It is time for you to own the company alongside Stephanie and Shane."

"In that case," she bowed her head, "the Rock may come back.  But I want Matt Hardy and Lita away from this company."

"Do you have a particular reason," Linda questioned the newest owner of the WWE, "or are you just being spiteful?"

"First off," Beth ticked each point off on her fingers as she said it, "Lita as been described as a bigoted bitch. She doesn't tolerate homosexuals, and I can't stand for that. Secondly, both of them were picking on Stephanie and she just took it. Wrestlers who can't respect their bosses have no place in this company. Thirdly, Matt Hardy ended the tag team he had formed alongside his brother simply because Jeff is gay.  How many more reasons do you want?"

"No more. You didn't even have to justify it that well, although the fact that you could tells me that you are entirely right in firing them."  Linda was proud of the young woman that she considered to be her youngest daughter.  Like her biological children, Beth had been trained in these ways from the time she was very young.  But she'd been gone for six years, and Linda honestly hadn't thought that she'd remember any of what she'd been taught.

"Thank you." She knew how much pride there was packed into the small morsel of praise. Turning to the wrestlers, she gave a soft smile. "I'll only continue wrestling if ya'll don't mind.  If ya do, I'll simply be a co-owner."

"We don't mind," Molly answered for the divas.

"And neither do we," Brock answered for the male wrestlers.

"We don't mind if you want to continue being Kliq," Kevin said gently.

"Thanks," she sighed in relief. Suddenly her expression froze.  "Wills, can you please call Lorne? Now?"

As the redhead dialed the number, she tried to get her older sister to tell her what was wrong. "And what's so important?"

"Just dial the number and give me the damn phone," Beth growled. The other members of her family, past and present, looked at her in shock.  It was rare for her to yell at a family member, no matter how often she yelled at other people. 

The moment the call started however, they started to realize how worried she was. "Lorne, it's Beth Rosenberg…Buffy Summers, if that's what you know me as, but that's not me anymore…Yes, the Slayer who was married to that monster before Cordelia…That's just it, Lorne…Has anyone explained about how to a certain extent, I can feel whatever Cordy's feeling due to a mixed-up spell that happened some odd years ago?...I can, and it's getting bad fast…Can you please?...We're in Suite 410 of the Sacramento Hilton…Thanks, Lorne."

"Beth," Xander immediately started the conversation, "what's so wrong, since I know that whatever it is, it's bad."

"He's taking out his anger on the both of them," she shuddered. "I don't think that Cordy's going to make it, no matter how much we want it to be otherwise."

"But then," Shawn started gently, having been in a similar position years before, "won't her husband get custody of the child?"

"No," Willow smiled vindictively, "because Cordelia changed her will years ago so that it explained to the police exactly what she went through at his hands.  It also gives custody to the four of us. Unusual, but we're all unusual."

"Besides," Xander's sightless eyes clouded, "Angel doesn't have an identity in this country.  Because according to the State of California, he and Cordelia were never married and Connor was Cordelia's instead of Angel's, Angel has no rights."

"Hello everyone," Lorne was suddenly there and no one knew where he'd come from. That and the fact that he was green, wasn't helping matters. In his arms he carried Conner.  "I couldn't save Cordy.  I called in a report of domestic violence and tied Angel up. I explained the situation to this Matura demon I know, and he's going to bend the officers' wills so that they will put him away for the rest of his life."

"Oh, Cordy," Beth groaned. "I told her when she married him not to.  I told her it would end badly."

"You know our Cordy," Lorne smiled sadly, "always so certain of herself. A regular Amazon."

Willow's eyebrow arched sharply. "I thought Amazons were demons."

"That wasn't what I meant and you know it," Lorne responded easily. Willow had met the friendly demon several years before when Conner was born. They weren't close friends, but they were still friends. 

"You guys can joke about people being demons?" Sean Waltman asked incredulously.

The older of the Slayers sighed. "We face demons and apocalypses and vampires year in and year out.  If we can't joke about it, then we're going to become weighed down by all of it."

"And trust us," Xander sighed, "we've all fought the forces of evil day in and day out since the beginning of sophomore year. We know what we're talking about."

"Hey," Faith yelped, "I started my sophomore year!"

"Oh, sorry," he apologized, a smile tugging on his lips, "she's been fighting a year less than the rest of us."

"Look," Beth's harsh words caused everyone to look at her, "we've been at this for four hours now.  We have a show tomorrow night, and there's still the matter of figuring out how to care for a three year old."

"I could stick around," Lorne volunteered. "The last earthquake, the one from Palos Verde, destroyed my bar. I don't have anything else to do."

"We'll pay you," all three Rosenbergs answered in unison.

"No," he said, shaking his head, "but I will teach Xander how to use Cordelia's powers."

"Oh, no," Xander shook his head, "that Seer did not give me her powers!"

"Actually," Lorne offered apologetically, "she did.  She thought that since you didn't have witchcraft or Slayer powers, that you might like hers."

"They gave her migraines," he pointed out, looking about ready to kill something. "And besides, I don't know what the things in the visions look like. Even if we have fought that particular type of demon before, chances are really good that I've never seen it before."

"This will still mean a chance to help out in the fight against evil." Lorne looked like he wanted to bolt.   Of course, he'd pissed off two Slayers, a powerful witch, and their brother, the PTB's new Seer.  If anyone else had been in his place, they would have wanted to run as well.

"Why don't you make the most of it?" Sean asked quietly. "You survived even though you didn't even think you would. Why don't you give others the same chance, even if they don't know it?"

"Who are you?" Xander asked angrily. "How do you know that?"

"My name's Sean.  Sean Waltman."

"Sean?" His voice sounded younger than it had in years to all of his sisters' ears. 

Beth repeated the name with a raised eyebrow. Faith simply looked as mystified as she did, while Willow smiled.

"Hey, Sean."

He looked at her and did a classic double take. "You're the Willow that used to hang out with Xander."

"That would be me. All grown up and infinitely less bookwormish."

"Is bookwormish even a word?" Sean asked slowly.

"I don't think it is," Faith shrugged, "but it describes how she used to be."

"Now tell me how you know my brother," Beth ordered, her last good nerve gone, and tired of everyone being there.

"I'm his brother!"  Sean burst out. "Well, half brother, and I wanted to take him with me when I left, but I couldn't!"

"Holy shit," Faith breathed. "Our family just tripled!"

"How do you figure?" Mark asked, looking confused.  Everyone else seemed to be just as puzzled.

Faith grinned. "Well, you're in love with my big sister. Then there's her father and brother and two stepfathers, if what I inferred was right?" At Beth's nod, she continued. "Then Linda, Shane, and Stephanie have to be added.  Sean and Glenn are also included in there."

"That doesn't triple it," Beth protested. "It only doubles it."

"Whatever!" Suddenly she smirked. "I forgot to add Connor, Lorne, Drusilla and Spike."

"Fuck," Xander shook his head. "It does damn near triple our family."

"Our family," Beth shook her head. "I'm off to bed. Reunions were definitely of the good and I'll be opening tomorrow's Smackdown."

"Why?" her aunt asked, although she had a fairly good idea why. 

"Because there are two problems that need to be taken care of."

**A/N: 5,542 words, over ten pages and I'm down to one final chapter and an epilogue. I've even got them planned out, so I should be able to finish before school starts next Tuesday.  PLEASE REVIEW!  Also, if you wish to continue any of the fics I'm discontinuing or write a sequel to this one, email me at arwen_ot_ls@yahoo.com.**


	8. A beat down

Chapter 6

It was time.  The anticipation could practically be tasted in the air, and the two Slayers were definitely feeding off of it. 

Xander and Willow hadn't wanted to be at the arena while the problems were taken care of.  Shawn had had Cameron stay back at the hotel with the pair.  Cameron had been given an assignment to complete while he was there by his sister. She'd told him that she wanted him to figure out a way to at least get Stephanie and Willow together, and possibly Shane and Xander. He'd looked at her like she'd taken drugs, and she'd laughed. _ I know that I'm a sucker for punishment, _was her only comment. _Now get a move on it!_

Everyone else, however, was enjoying the excitement of the 'Mystery Match.' That was what the match in which the newest tag team would compete was being called.  Most everyone had suspicions, but very few were completely certain about who it was that Faith and Beth were competing against. 

One rumor said that the sisters were taking on the McMahons to fight for the company. Jericho had started that one, but very few believed it. Linda was already handing over a part of it to Shawn's daughter, so why would they fight for the company?

Another was that Shawn Michaels was really straight and had the hots for Faith but Beth was the sister who loved him.  No one knew who had thought up the rumor, but they did know that they found it so stupid and unbelievable that it was laughable.

"Have you heard any of the rumors abounding over this match?" Mark asked his girlfriend a half hour before the start of the show.  "Some of them are just plain frightening!"

"You mean like the one where Faith and I are fighting in a mud match against you and Glenn?" Beth asked with a shudder.

"You're kidding, right?" He looked just as repulsed as she felt. 

"I wish," she shook her head. "I heard it from Terrie, who heard it from Stacy, who heard it from—"

"The production manager?" Glenn interrupted with a smile.  He may not have liked the oldest Michaels child before, but he liked her now.  Beth was wild in a way she'd never been before. He liked this new Beth, with her pure black hair and her more mature attitude.  But sometimes, he could see the part of her who still remembered the pain that she'd gone through, and it hurt him to see her soul in pain.  But his brother was definitely helping.  Yes, and not just with the sex that he had to be dishing out.  To be honest, the truth was that Mark **was dishing it out, as Glenn knew **far** too well.**

Mark snickered before Beth pinned him with a glare. "Right, that wasn't funny."

"No," Beth said sternly, "it was hilarious!"

Mark and Glenn broke into laughter.  This was a new part of Beth, nothing like the girl she had once been. That girl had been growing up and constantly rebelling.  This woman was grown up, and she knew how to have fun without the rebellion.

"Actually," she finished, "Stacy heard it from the source of the rumor, one bigoted redheaded diva."

"Lita," Glenn snarled. "Why doesn't that surprise me?"

"Because you're smart?" his brother suggested. 

"Nah," Beth grinned, "he's just been using that tiny brain o' his…for once."

"Beth!" Glenn shouted, outraged.

"What did I do?" she asked sweetly before sticking her tongue out.

**********************************************

The show was beginning, and Linda was watching her youngest 'daughter' pace. Beth wouldn't be going out until she was properly introduced by Stephanie and Linda herself.  That was still about ten minutes away, and until then, Beth was hell-bent on wearing a path in the carpet. 

"Beth," Linda began quietly, "you've trained so well that I'm half afraid to allow my wrestlers to go against you.  You have nothing to worry about."

"Sure I don't." She pinned the only mother figure she'd ever really had with a sad gaze. "My life went to hell last night, one of my friends will be buried in four days time, and I'm now one of the guardians of a three year old. Granted, I'm back together with the man of my dreams, but my father doesn't exactly approve!  He better not challenge Mark to match, Aunt Linda. You know he very well could!  And Wills is lonely again.  Steph and Faith have never really stopped being lonely—they're way too alike!—and Xander has a brother F and I never knew about!  Back to the three year old thing, none of us are children people!"

"Breathe, dear." Linda soothed the troubled girl while trying to hide her grin of amusement. "You babble more than you used to.  Everything will be fine, I promise."

The grown up Slayer stared at her for just a moment.  She cocked her head towards the stage. "It's time.  God, it really is time."

Striding with a good deal more confidence than either of them felt, the two women started toward the stage.

"Now we introduced the newest member of the Kliq at RAW," Stephanie stated to the cheers of the crowd.  She smiled at how well they liked her childhood friend. "However, there is much about Beth that we didn't tell you."

At that the other two women stepped out from backstage.  Linda was the one to speak.  "Most of you know that Shawn Michaels has an eleven year old son.  He also has a grown daughter called Beth."

Even as the audience tried to process that knowledge, Linda continued speaking. "There are rumors going around about me retiring.  I'm as aware of this as I am that I really am going to be retiring.  When Vince left the business, he gave his interest to Shane and Stephanie.  I will leave my shares to the girl I helped raise because she grew up on the road with us.  As of earlier today, Beth Michaels will have a third of the company along with my biological children."

"The first thing I do as co-owner," Beth said coldly, "is to declare that the 'Mystery Match' scheduled for the main event will be a tag team event.  My partner will be Faith Rosenberg in her first WWE match.  Together, we will be facing Lita and Matt Hardy.  If they win, they keep their jobs and get a salary raise."  The silence was deafening.  "If they lose, they lose the jobs they currently hold here and they will never get a job with any wrestling company again."

The quiet suddenly erupted in screams and accusations.  There were cheers as well, but there were less of them.  The black-haired girl didn't even blink.  She'd survived Sunnydale, and she'd survived the Summers family.  This was no big deal. "They have repeatedly disrespected my childhood friends, who just so happen to be their other bosses.  Every action has an equal and opposite reaction."

With that, the girl left the stage to cheers.  Already they could tell that she only used her power if she absolutely had to.  She wasn't like the other owners and GMs through the years.  She was fair and she was just.  That was why the former members of Team Extreme would find themselves without jobs by the end of the show.

*****************************************

As the two Sunnydale girls walked out to the song 'I'm a bitch'.  After Matt and Lita had come out, the match began.  

At first Faith went easy on Matt.  This meant that she didn't let him get a single move on her and she only did a simple Sweet Chin Music. Then it was Beth's turn.  Her hazel eyes sparkled with malice as she threw him into the ropes.  He got lucky and tagged Lita, but she spared no mercy on the redhead.

After only a few minutes, the two sisters—bound by ties of violence, love, and hope—walked towards the back.  They only stopped once and that was to make a pronouncement.  "I'm actually sorry that Lita and Matt are no longer part of this company.  I think that if the circumstances had been just a little different, they would have continued being a great aspect of the show."

With that said, Beth walked out.  She was headed back to the hotel, back to her family—and back to her future.

_A/N: I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed.  Excepting the epilogue, this is the last part of this story.  Looking back, it was rushed in places and too jumpy in others.  I can't help being glad that one of my stories is wrapping up…heaven knows that doesn't happen very often for me.  The muses just leave me on most of them._

_Thanks for putting up with missing words, missing chapters, and time issues._

_Please review; my teachers are always surprised to see a smile on my face._


	9. Epilouge: Twenty years later

Twenty Years later—

"Dad," twenty-three year old Connor Calloway screamed out the open kitchen window. "Mom just called. She's at the airport waiting impatiently for a ride!"

Connor's eighteen year old sister Jenny watched her father take off with an amused grin. Once Connor was in the backyard with her, she asked, "Is Mom really back from Hong Kong?" 

Her older brother nodded and then seemed to reconsider it. "Well, she will be in five hours."

"So who is he picking up?"  For the younger generation, it was a well known fact that the whole thing was turning into a surprise family reunion.

"Aunt Faith and Uncle Sean are already here. They brought the new baby, Mikey, with them.  Uncle Xander and Uncle Shane's plane will come in from Connecticut in about thirty minutes. Aunt Stephanie and Aunt Tara are arriving with them."

"What about Aunt Willow and Aunt Torrie's brood?"  The two women had gotten together fifteen years before after Willow and Tara's nasty break up. Since then, they'd adopted five kids.  Isabel, or Izzie as she was more commonly known, had just turned fifteen.  Johnny was four, Jim was sweet sixteen, Elise was eight, and Nicole had recently celebrated her eleventh birthday.

"Who do you think was helping me cook?"

Jenny's eyes lit up. "You're kidding, right?"

"Would I do that?"

"Yeah, but then you wouldn't know that the sibs are back in town."  Indeed, Jenny was the baby of the Calloway horde.  Allen Calloway happened to be the oldest at forty-one.  Even he had to agree that it was odd having twenty-three years separating him from the youngest. And then there was the fact that Jenny's biological and Connor's adopted mom was six months younger than Allen.

It kinda made things tense sometimes, but they dealt.  "All eight of them are here?"

Jenny smirked.  "And all six spouses along with our sixteen nieces and nephews."

"Joy," her brother muttered darkly. "All supernatural peoples accounted for?"

"Yep."  Spike and Drusilla headed the group as they were Connor's sister and nephew.  Well, if you looked at it from one point of view.  They all preferred the 'sister and brother-in-law' p.o.v. Lorne would also be coming and one could never forget Clem. "What about everyone else?"

"The rest of the family will be arriving with enough time to make it to the first event of the 'reunion,'" Connor confirmed.  For the first time, he was showing a small bit of fear.

"You'll do fine," Jenny comforted. "After all, tonight is just the rehearsal dinner.  Of course, if it goes fine, your wedding tomorrow will be a complete and utter flop, but…"

"Please don't say that!"

"Please," sarcasm dripped from every one of Cameron's words.  Eight years separated the two men, but they'd always been close friends.  Hence, why he'd come back to San Antonio with Connor instead of catching another plane. Like, say, one that was after his date with Lily Matthews. Oh, well. They really hadn't been that well suited. "You and Antonia Giles have been hot for each other since you first met. Nothing's going to go wrong."

"Can we not talk about Toni and my bro that way?" Jenny begged. "I don't mind them together now, but the fist time they met was the first day Toni was in my class.  Back then, Toni and I were in Mrs. Kuaka's second grade!"

And then the relatives laughed, thinking about the corkscrews Fate had sent them all on. Cameron was a witch, as Willow and Tara loved to gush.  Toni was the daughter of the Englishman who had driven Connor's birth mother away from Sunnydale and into the arms of the man who would kill her.  That same Englishman had been Connor's adoptive mother's mentor.

Last, but not least, there was Jenny.  Eighteen years old, the Slayer for her generation and dating an older man.  And Jordy Osborne just so happened to be a werewolf.

Yeah, Fate was a bitch.  But at least she had a sense of humor.

_A/N: Please review. When I started this, I don't think I realized that it would be the first story I truly finished.  Of course, when I first started writing this, I never realized how badly I'd become addicted to writing song fics. _

_February 7, 2004_

_What they didn't know is finally finished._

_There may possibly be a sequel, but it's highly unlikely._


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